With Tri Astari
- What are the key technical and methodological challenges in digitising both tangible and intangible cultural heritage, particularly in ensuring accuracy, context, and long-term preservation?
From my experience with WikiMelayu, the main challenge in digitising cultural heritage was not simply capturing high-quality photographs, audio or video, but also ensuring that each piece of documentation had a well-defined context, source and copyright status. In the documentation of Malay culture—such as Malay wedding attire and casual clothing for men and women, music, the sounds of traditional musical instruments, dance, and Malay cuisine—accuracy must be assured through the direct involvement of native leaders, cultural practitioners, representatives of the Malay royal courts, photographers, videographers, and written references that demonstrate an understanding of the history and cultural significance of these elements.
The methodological challenge lies in determining the boundary between cultural material that can be shared openly and those that are protected by specific permissions, authorities or sensitivities. I once experienced having content removed from Wikimedia Commons because they considered it not to be my own work, despite the existence of a release of copyright letter. This experience was a lesson in the fact that open digital repositories such as Wikimedia Commons require clarity regarding who the original creator is, what licence is in use, and whether the work can genuinely be reused by the public. In other words, the digitisation of cultural heritage means more than simply documenting it. It must also ensure the accuracy of the data, adhere to ethical licensing practices, utilise appropriate open licences, and maintain the content in open digital repositories enabling long-term, responsible access to and reuse of that cultural heritage. - How does the digital representation of cultural heritage reshape collective memory and identity, especially for younger generations who primarily engage with heritage online?
Digital representations have transformed how young people understand, remember and construct their identity in relation to cultural heritage. While cultural knowledge was previously acquired mainly through direct experience, family and community, the younger generation largely interacts with culture via the internet, social media and open digital repositories such as Wikimedia Commons. Digitisation makes cultural heritage more accessible, easier to study and share, but it also risks oversimplifying cultural meaning by presenting images, videos or audio without a full context.
Therefore, documentation needs to include narratives, history, clear sources and the perspectives of the communities to whom the culture belongs—so that instead of merely being a visual archive, these repositories become spaces for establishing an accurate and inclusive collective memory that strengthens the cultural identity of the younger generation. - What are the key legal and structural challenges related to copyright and ownership when cultural heritage—both tangible and intangible—is digitised, particularly in balancing protection, access, and the rights of source communities?
The main legal and structural challenges in the digitisation of cultural heritage are ensuring clarity regarding copyright, ownership, permissions and cultural authority before a work is uploaded to the digital sphere. In WikiMelayu’s experience, cultural expressions do not always have a single creator, as many constitute the collective knowledge of a community and are passed down through generations, such as dance, music, traditional dress or specific cultural practices. On the other hand, the digital media used to document them—such as photographs, videos or audio recordings—do have technical creators, for example, photographers, videographers or sound engineers.
It is therefore necessary to distinguish between rights over cultural expressions, rights over the documentary works, and the rights of the communities of origin as the owners of cultural knowledge. The challenge lies in balancing open access with the protection of communities, to ensure that culture can be studied and reused responsibly without stripping it of its context, harming creators, or infringing on the rights of the indigenous community. To achieve this, digitisation must be carried out with clear consent, following consultation with cultural stakeholders, the selection of appropriate licences, and an understanding that certain cultural elements may not be suitable or permissible for unrestricted publication. - What role should governments and cultural institutions play in regulating and supporting digitisation, particularly in ensuring ethical standards, data sovereignty, and equitable access?
The government and cultural institutions need to act as facilitators, regulators and community supporters in the process of digitising cultural heritage. These roles are important not to impose restrictions on those wishing to preserve their culture, but to provide guidelines so that the preservation process is conducted ethically, accurately and in a legally appropriate manner. The government and cultural institutions can provide documentation standards, guidance on licensing, metadata management, protection of the rights of indigenous communities, and digital repositories that are accessible on a fair basis. The communities that own the culture would still need to be involved as sources of knowledge and providers of context, whilst documentarians, academics, students and volunteers could serve as connectors to help ensure that the culture is documented and made more widely known. In this way, cultural data sovereignty does not mean restricting access, but rather ensuring that culture is represented accurately, remains in the hands of its rightful owners, and can continue to be reused responsibly for long-term preservation. - How can local communities—especially young people—be meaningfully involved in the digital preservation of their cultural heritage without losing authenticity or agency?
Local communities, particularly younger generations, can engage meaningfully if they are not merely the subjects of documentation but also active participants in digital preservation. Such involvement can begin with aspects of everyday life, for example documenting regional cuisine, local textiles, or family cultural heritage. These can be photographed, recorded, described, and then uploaded to open digital repositories such as Wikimedia Commons. Throughout this process, young people should also take the time to read and understand upload guidelines, licensing requirements, copyright rules, and cultural contexts so that the documentation they create remains authentic and does not violate ethical standards.
I personally began with something simple: photographing my mother's cooking, such as lontong Medan (a traditional dish from Medan) with its various accompaniments, including Medan-style taoco (fermented soybean sauce), telur balado (eggs in a spicy chilli sauce), thin noodles, and chicken stew. I then uploaded the photographs to Wikimedia Commons. Later, I discovered that one of these images had been reused by an online news outlet that needed a photograph of the dish. This experience demonstrated that digital preservation can begin within the family home, yet its impact can extend much further, making local culture easier to discover, use, and recognise by the wider public in a responsible manner.
